A student from the Faculty of Electrical Engineering designed a test tube opener manufactured on a 3D printer. It is already used by seven Czech laboratories and can be printed free of charge by anyone

At the beginning of April, the doctor RNDr. Lenka Richterové, Ph.D. contacted a group of CTU researchers who automate Covid-19 testing using pipetting robots in the Na Bulovce Hospital, where she works. Researchers and students of the Faculty of Electrical Engineering (FEE) and the Czech Institute of Informatics, Robotics and Cybernetics (CIIRC) were asked whether they could design a tool to facilitate the opening of test tubes. The current procedure of manual opening is very impractical and ultimately dangerous. It requires inserting a finger into the recess of the lid, turning it and then unfolding it. According to Richterová, this method followed by the lab technicians causes calluses and painful blisters that burst. In addition, tilting the cap to the side causes bubbles to contaminate the outside of the tube and laboratory gloves. And using more layers of gloves would make it impossible to hold the tube and cap firmly.